


you broke our spirit

by MiniNephthys



Category: Undertale
Genre: Gen, Genocide Run, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 14:12:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4832093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans reflects.  There's not much else he can do now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you broke our spirit

The resets came almost immediately, at first.

The child would die, and after a second or two he would be back at the end of the hallway, walking up to Sans at that same steady pace. Sans kept track for the first few, lightly joking with the child over how many times he’d been killed in a row, then grew bored of that and cut to the chase.

After he’d stopped counting his victories, there was a pause, maybe ten minutes, where the child did not return, and Sans almost started to hope that this was it. That maybe, possibly, he’d given up. That as bad as things were now, they wouldn’t get any worse, and that maybe the survivors could rebuild...

Of course, he regretted that when that familiar shift happened and the child reappeared. Ah. Just a breather, then. Of course, he wouldn’t want to fight that many times in a row without a break, either.

The child took him up on his offer to spare him only once, muttering about hopeless boss fights. Sans almost wanted to laugh and tell him he didn’t know what hope even was. Hope is the belief that things will get better if you stick it out just a little longer.

Determination doesn’t care if things get better. It only cares that things progress. A bad ending is the same as a good one.

Did he know anything besides determination? Joy, sadness, anger? Did he ever feel anything besides a desire to kill everything in front of him simply because it was there? Was there a time before he was set on this path?

Did it really matter?

Sans knows. Not even deep in his heart, something he’s trying to ignore: he knows and acknowledges that sometime, he will lose this fight. The child may take breaks now and then, but he will always return to challenge him one more time, and that could be the time he gets lucky. Every time they fight, he memorizes Sans’ patterns a little better, and avoids them a little longer before he dies.

The breaks get longer. An hour. Three hours. A day. Sans’ hopes rise a little each time against his will, before they’re crushed again.

How determined can a human be to play this sick game of his? This is a human, right…?

But he comes back. And back. And every time he gets a little further, until Sans has exhausted himself. He has his special attack, but it’s his last resort. If the child’s determination gets past that, he’s done, and so is everything and everyone else.

The King won’t stand a chance. Even Flowey, should that flower try to do something good once in his life, wouldn’t be able to stop him. He doubts the humans will put up much of a fight, either. Sans is the last line of defense.

But…

He’s so tired. He’s fought this battle so many times. And while it’s still his turn, maybe he can rest… just for a bit.


End file.
